GVPT Maths Camp

Introductions and Set Up

Welcome

  • Welcome to the UMD GVPT PhD program!

  • Gentle introduction to some of the tools you will use throughout the program and your research

  • Ask any and all questions

Introductions

  • Starting my third year in the program

  • Focus on dependence and conflict

  • Before starting my PhD:

  • Favourite Smithsonian: the zoo!

Learning objectives for today

  1. Introduction to R and friends

  2. Getting your computers set up

Why R?

  • A versatile programming language that is particularly good for statistical analysis

  • Involves a huge community of people who passionately contribute

  • Free and accessible!

Set up

  • Homebrew (macOS or Linux only)

  • R and RStudio

  • Git and GitHub

Homebrew: The Missing Package Manager for macOS and Linux

  1. Go to https://brew.sh/

  2. Follow instructions on the homepage

R and RStudio

R

R is a free and open-source programming language and software environment for statistical computing and graphics.

RStudio

RStudio is an integrated development environment (IDE) for the R programming language.

A Tour of RStudio

Source: R4DS

Git and GitHub

Git

Git is a version control system used for tracking changes in software development projects.

GitHub

GitHub is a web-based platform for version control and collaborative software development using Git.

Summary

This session you:

  1. Learnt about new data science tools to help you conduct replicable and reproducible political science research

  2. Set up your data science tools